Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1887-11-11
What Became of Patagonia.
H,rnzs. sy.-...

Increased to be place called Pata-
gonia. 1t appears in our biographies
now as a "drear and uninhabitable waste,
upon which herds of wild horses and
cattle Craze, that are hunted for their
flesh by few bands of savage indians of
immense stature" l am quoting from
school-book published in 1886, and in
common use in this country. The same
geography gives similar inform alton
about the Argentine Confederation"
1t would be just as polite and proper to
call this the Confederate States of
America" bitter, bloody war was
fought to wipe that name off the map,
but our publishers still insist upon keep
ing it there. 1t is not confederation;
1T is a nation, with a big IN" like ours
one and lnseparable, united we stand, di-
vided we fall, and all that sort of thing
the Argentine republic. To call it any
thing else is an insult to the patriots who
fought to make it so, and reflection up
on our own intelligence.
Several years ago Patagonia was divid
e between Chilli and the Argentine re-
public, the ministers from the United
States to those two countries doing the
carving. The SUBMITS of the Cordiileras
were fixed as the boundary lines. Chill
sSOAh
along the Pacific coast between the
mountains and the sea, and the
Argentine republic the pampas, the arch
ipeligo of TERRA del Fuego being
divided between them. Since the partI-
| ton ranchmen have been pushing south
ward with great rapidity, and now the
vast territory is practically occupied.
| There are no moro wild cattle or horses
| there than in Kansas, and the dreary IN
inhabitable wastes of Patagonia have
| gone into oblivion with the "Great Am
| erican Desert" The remnant of a vast
tribe of aborigines still occupies the in
| terror, but the Indian problem of the Ar
geutine republic was solved in a sum-
mary way. There was considerable an
noyance on the frontier from bands IF
rowing savages, who used to come north
during the winter-time to steal cattle, rob
and rayish, and the outposts of civiliza-
tion were not safe. Gen. Roca, the Sher-
idan of the river Plata, was sent with a
brigade of cavalry to the frontier to
prevent this sort of thing. East and
west across the territory runs tho Rio
Negro, swift turbid stream like the
Missouri, with high banks. Fifty miles
or So from the mountains the river makes
turn in its course and leaves narrow
thing that enters or leaves Patagonia by
land must go. Across this pass of so
miles Gen. Roca dug ditch II feet deep
and 10 feet wide. The Indians to the
number of several thousand, were north
when the work was done, raiding the set
Elements. As spring came they turned
to go southwark as usual, in q long cara
van, with their stolen horses and cattle.
Roca galloped around their rear, and
drove them night and day before him.
When they reached the ditch they became
bewildered, for they could not cross it,
and after few days of slaughter the
| remnant that survived surrendered, and
were distributed through the army as
soldiers, while the women were sent into
| semi-slavery among the ranchmen they
had robbed. The dead animals and men
were buried together in the ditch, and
there has been no further annoyance
from Indians on the frontier.
The few that remain seldom come
northward, but remain around Punta Are
nas, the only settlement in the strait,
hunting the ostrich and other wild game,
trading the skjas for whisky, and making
themselves as wretched as possible. The
robes they wear are made of the skins of
guapaco, a species of the llama, and the
breasts of young ostriches. There is
nothing prettier than an ostrich robe,
but each one represents the slaughter of
from 16 to 20 young birds, and they are
getting rare and expensive as the birds
are being exterminated, as our buffaloes
have been.